Report: Several Redskins players duped by fake woman

Jan. 23, 2013
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Former Redskins defensive end Phillip Daniels (pictured in 2010), now the team's director of player development, said the team became aware of a woman targeting Redskins players online in December. / Geoff Burke, USA TODAY SPORTS

by Chris Strauss, USA TODAY Sports

by Chris Strauss, USA TODAY Sports

Back in the day, when unknown, surgically enhanced women approached random pro football players, they were usually just prostitutes sent by Lawrence Taylor to tire rivals out before games.

Now players just don't know who to trust.

A week after news of the Manti T'eo hoax broke, NFL.com reports some Washington Redskins players were contacted by a fan using the pseudonym "Sidney Ackerman", as well as a photo avatar stolen from porn actress C.J. Miles (as opposed to the NBA player of the same name).

According to multiple sources, the conversations occurred mostly through Twitter's direct messaging function. But in some instances, "Ackerman" also sent separate photos of Miles to players' cellphones, never suggesting the photos were not her own, as conversations endured on and off for months.

"If you think about it, a lot of them are single guys, and they see somebody who looks good in a picture or something," Redskins director of player development Phillip Daniels said. "In many cases, it involves someone who is a fan of the team, so they'll start talking about the team. You have to recognize that something just isn't right."

According to the report, at least four players engaged in online correspondence with "Ackerman," who used the handle "@RedRidnH00d," and several of them attempted to arrange in-person meetings. This and other suspicions led to an investigation by NFL security and Daniels posting the following memo in the team's locker room in mid-December.

"His message did not waver: Stay away from @RedRidnH00d. Avoid her on Twitter. Avoid her on Instagram. Do not converse with this person on any social media platform. She is not who she claims to be."

While "Ackerman" may have had more dubious intentions than just getting to grandmother's house safely, the story says that she didn't ask players for money or do anything threatening, although she did send a porn clip of Miles to one player.

I'm in no place to judge what NFL players do on their own time. If they want to pursue certain available opportunities that may come easier due to their stature as pro athletes, that's their prerogative. But dudes. If her Twitter handle has an abundance of the letter x, z or is attached to a female descriptive (chick, girl, etc.) she's likely not real. If she has a scantily clad picture and no other identifiers (city, name, etc.), she's probably not real. If her name is Lennay Kekua ... well ... you know. It can't be that hard to figure out.